Gelukkige Verjaardag, Portugal
by Korrosive
Summary: It's Portugal's birthday, but she doesn't expect anything special for a gift. But what arrives at her doorstep? Implied PortugalxNetherlands


He shouldn't have trusted her when she said those words.

Portugal had burst into the kitchen while he was busy cleaning the kitchen and Indonesia was helping him. She sounded frantic and she was breathless. She shouted, "Holland, HOLLAND! _Seus idiota! _What are you doing? Your rabbit's drowning in that pond in your garden!"

Everyone knew how fond Holland was of his rabbits, so all three of them, Holland, Portugal and Indonesia, ran to the pond at the back of Holland's huge garden. He should have sensed that something was amiss, since he CLEARLY told that woman Portugal to make sure the door of the hutch was shut properly…

"Where is he?" Holland said, peering into the pond. "I don't see any-…"

SPLASH!

Laughter filled the air as Holland surfaced from the pond, soaking wet. Portugal and Indonesia were in stitches, laughing uncontrollably. "Happy April Fools'!" Portugal giggled.

"Damn you, Portugal," Holland muttered as he pulled himself up from the pond. Water was dripping from his clothes and hair, forming a tiny puddle at his feet. Although Indonesia had managed to stop laughing, Portugal was still giggling. Holland glared at her.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she replied, suppressing her laughter. "It's just that you look funny with your hair down like that."

He rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Portugal, just shut up."

* * *

><p><em>Beep.<em>

_Beep._

_Beep._

Netherlands groaned as he pressed down his alarm clock. He slowly sat up, feeling groggy. No, that wasn't right. It was most likely a hangover. He had gone drinking with Portugal last night and lost to her again, this time by one mug. That girl could fit hundreds of mugs of beer in her body and not even have a hint of blush on her face. Simply put, that girl's drinking capacity was crazy!

He lifted his alarm clock. It was the digital sort was showed you both the time and date. His eyes widened for a moment when he saw the date blink back at him.

25 April.

He got up from bed. He couldn't afford to laze around any longer. He had some important things to do.

* * *

><p><em>Beep.<em>

_Beep._

_Beep._

No response.

_Three minutes later…_

_Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep…_

"AAAAHHH! JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!" Portugal shouted as she slammed her stupid alarm clock off. She failed as her hand pushed the alarm clock to the ground with a clatter. So who cares if something inside broke? The stupid device had shut up already anyway.

She groaned as she lied back on her bed. She was going to sleep for an hour or so longer. That was what she did every day after her alarm clock rang. Her birthday was no exception.

She lazed around for a few more minutes before she realised she couldn't fall back to sleep. Grumbling to herself, she sat up and dragged herself out of bed reluctantly.

To her, her birthday stood out from the other days of her life because it was one of those few days she got gifts just because she was there. She was used to being forgotten and ignored by the other nations, so this day wasn't really that special in a sense. She expected the usual gifts (tomatoes from her brother Spain and accessories from the female nations) to appear in her mailbox, or no gifts at all.

Portugal boiled herself some water to make tea with. Her love of drinking tea was mostly rubbed off from her former ally, Britain as well as Ho—no, Netherlands. She mostly had floral tea brewed with tea leaves, but on days when she was lazy, she made tea with a tea bag.

Today was one of those days she would have floral tea.

Since Portugal feeling a little lazy, she just had some butter spread on bread for breakfast. She flopped herself down on her chair. She didn't expect anything interesting to happen that day.

Or so she thought.

* * *

><p>After receiving her usual gifts, Portugal went to see Netherlands, with an intention to irritate him. The two had been having a relationship that was a cross between friends and enemies. Nowadays, Portugal took fondness in annoying and teasing Netherlands. Back then, when both of them were looking after Indonesia, Portugal would kick him in the shins or slap him whenever she found him getting on her or Indonesia's nerves. These were done much to the glee of Portugal, the relief of Indonesia who had too much of Netherlands' strictness and stubbornness and the annoyance of Netherlands.<p>

Portugal grinned as she approached Netherlands' house. Nostalgia overwhelmed her. Although the owner of the house was pretty much an idiot, the property itself was nice, with a huge back garden and a neat interior.

Portugal walked up to the front door and rung the doorbell. She waited for about thirty seconds, but still no Netherlands. She rang the doorbell again. This time, Netherlands answered it within thirty seconds, but he was out of breath.

"What do you want, Portugal?"

Portugal wasn't at all surprised or shocked by his rudeness, but rather she was surprised at his breathlessness.

"I just stopped by for a visit, that's all. Can I come in?"

"Um… Okay," Netherlands answered hesitantly. But Portugal gave her words a second thought.

"Can we go see your garden instead? I don't want to spend my time indoors." Portugal smiled, pulling a face.

"O-okay, then."

Netherlands led Portugal to his garden. Portugal grinned. The garden still looked as neat as ever. The grass brushed against her ankles and she went over to his flowerbed, where he grew his tulips. She wondered how the seeds which he had planted a few days ago were coming along.

They were growing well and Portugal couldn't wait until they bloomed. She was eager to find out what colour the tulips would turn out to be. As she scanned the flowerbed, she noticed that some of the tulips were cut off. She turned to Netherlands.

"What happened to those tulips?"

"O-oh, those," Netherlands stammered. "Er… Siblings coming over tomorrow for dinner. Thought I could decorate my table."

"I see," Portugal murmured. She liked the colour of those tulips. Some of them were bright red, the colour of tomatoes (blood sounded too disgusting), others were soft pink and the remaining tulips the colour of pale light, the same colour as her hair ribbons.

"Well, those tulips were nice," said Portugal, straightening up. 'I'd better get going now. I didn't intend to stay here long anyway."

Netherlands nodded. "Okay, I'll see you out."

* * *

><p>Portugal walked home, feeling strangely happy. She guessed that it was probably the tulips she was thinking of. If she were Netherlands, she would want her table to look nice too.<p>

_Speaking of which,_ Portugal thought, her spirits plummeting. _I haven't thought of what I should have for lunch._

Portugal entered her house and sat in her kitchen, pondering over what she should have for lunch. She looked through her cupboards, hoping to get some inspiration, but to no avail.

"There's not even _bacalhau_..." Portugal murmured, feeling disappointed. She hated herself for not going to the market yesterday. Suddenly her stomach growled. She facepalmed herself. Great, she was hungry and there was nothing in this stupid kitchen to ea—

_Ding dong!_

Portugal's thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell. Curiously, she went to the door. She wondered who it could be. Normally, no one would visit her at this time of the day. Even if it was her birthday.

She opened the door, and was surprised to find no one there. She felt her irritation flaring. Must be someone playing a prank on her!

She stepped forward to see if there was anyone around, but she felt the tip of her shoe tap something. She looked down.

A basket and a bouquet of flowers?

Confused, she picked both items up. First, since her stomach was practically rumbling, she peered into the basket. All she saw were small, buttered pancakes with powdered sugar on top. Was this a dessert of some sort? Still clueless, she gently placed the basket on her porch and studied the bouquet of flowers. She gently pulled back a corner of the paper the flowers were wrapped in.

Tulips?

Now this was becoming very puzzling. The strangest thing, the tulips were red, pink and yellow. She looked into the bouquet hoping to find more clues. She found a folded note with her name written on it. Balancing the bouquet on the crook of her elbow, she unfolded the note. It read:

_Portugal,_

_First of all, gelukkige verjaardag, which is happy birthday in Dutch, by the way. Second of all, since you have a sweet tooth and you have been pestering me about __poffertjes, well, here they are. I know you will be too lazy to cook lunch yourself, so I made a meal for you. Also, don't return it to me._

_Netherlands_

_P.S. You can't eat __poffertjes all the time, no matter how much you like them. They're only served on special occasions anyway._

_P.P.S. About the tulips, I know you like the colours. Yellow tulips symbolize cheerful thoughts (very like you) and I don't know what pink means though. I think it symbolizes the same thing red does, which is 'perfect love'._

Portugal felt a colour rising to her cheeks after reading the last sentence of the note. It was probably the first time in her life Netherlands had given her something (yes, _something_). It was a bit strange, why he had suddenly given her a gift. Especially one which included tulips. He was very fussy about his tulips. So why…?

Portugal shook her head. She guessed that the reason was for her to guess, and for Netherlands to know. She picked up the basket and went back inside.

Somewhere behind the trees, Netherlands smiled softly.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I know what you're thinking. This is my version of Portugal. **_**My **_**version, so it may be different from the other Portugals you've heard of read about. This implied pairing is really ironic, since in 1602 (or somewhere around that line), they both fought against each other. *shot***


End file.
